UroMems and the EIC Accelerator: A Smart Implant for Incontinence

UroMems, founded in 2011 near Grenoble and led by co-founder and chief executive Hamid Lamraoui, has developed UroActive, an implanted artificial urinary sphincter driven by a small electromechanical system that tightens around the urethra according to the patient's activity and opens by remote control. It is designed to replace hand-pumped sphincters that have changed little since the 1970s and that, in men, require squeezing a pump in the scrotum to urinate. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's June 2023 cut-off with blended finance and received an EU grant of €2.50 million for UroAct, a €13.16 million project from July 2023 to December 2024, according to CORDIS.

The final report says the first feasibility study in men, six patients implanted in Paris and Nantes, showed all devices "activated and operating as expected with no need for revision nor explant after more than 1-year follow-up", and that a study in six women reached its six-month primary endpoints in early 2025 with the same result, according to the CORDIS reporting page. The company also prepared its pivotal trial. In July 2025 the US Food and Drug Administration and the French agency ANSM cleared SOPHIA2, a pivotal trial of UroActive in men, according to AdvaMed. It is recruiting 140 men at sites in the United States and France, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.

Where UroMems Stands Now

In May 2026 UroMems raised $60 million from Ajax Health Fund I, its largest round, to carry it through the SOPHIA2 trial toward regulatory filings in the United States and Europe, according to PR Newswire. That followed a $47 million Series C in June 2024 led by Crédit Mutuel Innovation "with participation from the European Innovation Council". The company has no revenue, and its net loss rose to €8.66 million in 2025, according to the French ratios dataset.

The Technology: A Sphincter That Thinks

Stress urinary incontinence, leaking when coughing, laughing or exercising, affects an estimated 90 million Europeans, the report says. Severe cases in men are treated with manual sphincters that often need to be revised or removed; for women, mesh slings leave about 15% incontinent and have led to lawsuits and bans in some countries, according to the report. UroActive adjusts its pressure to the patient's activity, applying only the minimum needed, which is intended to protect the urethra from erosion, and it records data for the surgeon.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The project covered the first human studies and preparation of a pivotal trial. Both feasibility studies met their goals, and the pivotal trial was cleared seven months after the project ended. The studies are very small, twelve patients in total, and the pivotal trial covers men only; a pivotal study in women has not been announced.

1. Feasibility study in menDelivered6 of 6 working after 1 year.
2. Feasibility study in womenDeliveredSix-month endpoints met.
3. Pivotal trial approvalDeliveredFDA and ANSM, July 2025.
4. Market approvalPendingAfter SOPHIA2.

The Money

The EU grant covered 19% of the project; the company funded the rest. The EIC took part in the 2024 Series C, confirming that the equity side of the blended award was used; its amount has not been disclosed. The 2026 round came entirely from an American fund, Ajax Health, and the company now presents itself as based in Grenoble and Minneapolis.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Incontinence is common, under-treated and costly, and the devices for severe cases are decades old. UroMems is a European company close to a new standard of care. The EIC backed it at the right stage; the largest cheque since has come from the United States, one of the two markets where it plans to file for approval.

The Verdict

UroMems and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.